ChapterHouse

From the Journal of James Watie: Wherein we DO NOT Visit the Bait Shop (Until Later)

2

AUG/66

Aug. 2nd: We decided to lay low at the hotel for a bit, thus reducing our notoriety a bit. Willy’s plan, of course. My instincts told me that there were more enemies afoot for us to lure into a trap, but sometimes one must wait. It feels like I have been waiting my entire life for these enemies, and now, to best fight them, I must wait even more.

Aug. 3rd: We went sightseeing around Oslo a bit. It is a very interesting city, but I feel even more out-of-place here than I do in London. We traveled to the park (during the day this time), and found our previous exploits had been very well covered up. I wonder if that was the work of the Oslo CH, or any one of the other groups taking interest in our actions?

When we arrived back at the hotel, a letter was waiting Willy from one Conrad Hohenloe. His family is of old German stock, and form a large part of the upper echelons of the French Foreign Legion. Willy seems to also be interested in their past connections to the Teutonic Knights (some not-so-secret society).

He met us at the hotel restaurant,he was dressed simply but very sharply. Short hair and favoring his left leg just enough to make me think it may look worse than it is. He was in town to meet his brother, Cardinal Gustav (Catholic). His other brother, Karl, is a higher-up in German-Bavarian politics. It was a nice meeting, and Conrad was a bit hard to read. Friend-or-foe was not determined, but we all agreed that we did not trust him AT ALL.

Aug. 4th: We decided to go to the Lutheran church Conrad mentioned to investigate the relics that his brother was in town to claim for the Church. The church was very nice and ornate, with a HUGE pipe organ. One display item was missing from the racks; it’s label read “The Sword of Constantine.”

Well bugger all that.

Willy used his credentials to get in to see the sword. It was a full greatsword with the name “Constantine” etched into the blood groove. Willy discerned that the weapon was not of Constantine’s time period, but was probably gifted a good bit later to the King of Saxony. Supposedly it has a piece of iron in the crossguard that was one of the nails used to crucify Jesus of Nazareth. One likely piece of iron was indeed there, with not a blemish on it.

Moving upstairs to a less conspicuous location, Willy tested for magic in the area. His detection watch nearly ripped from his hand, pointing to the area the sword was stored below. This item being a likely fit on the shopping list of items needed by our enemies (as a likely focus for angelic interest, AND a possible means of slaying such a being), we decided to inform Conrad on the likelihood of such a theft.

We did so back at the hotel. Conrad was thankful for the information (which was given as “We have had several such thefts from the London area, and are worried that there is a serial thief in action”). He offered us a tea-time with his brother Gustav to explain to him the same.

We had tea, mentioning to Cardinal Gustav that the relics were often hit in transit. He took it as advice freely given, and promised to increase the guard on the relic. We further investigated at the docks, finding that there was a boat there flying Vatican colors. After this, we headed back to the hotel for dinner and rest.

Aug. 5th: In order to stay busy (and sharp), we decided to spend the day tracking possible routes for the relic caravan to head to the port. That morning we got a letter delivered to Willy. Sergei realized that the seal had been tampered with, further leading us to believe that the concierge was probably bought and paid for by some agent or another. Inside was a riddle which led us to the British consulate, and some quick deciphering by Aldo and Sergei led us to the statue out front. The statue pointed to the hotel across the street, in which waited Abel, who informed us that the fake stones were now ready. When we mentioned the sword, Abel stated that their CH was already on it, although he appreciated the heads-up on the topiary creatures and drowned undead.

We took the stones, heading to the telegraph office to send home to the British Museum that Willy had found them and was bringing them home. We booked passage back to England, once again back at The Bait Shop.

Aug. 6th-8th: On the boat. Aldo is miserable, which is both extremely sad for him and quite funny for me. We are heading back to London and hopefully a confrontation with the forces who we are trying to counter. People are trying to kill me and my new friends, but worse yet, they are dabbling in secrets and magics that are best left untouched. This makes them my enemies, and my people only have one sure cure for our enemies.